Speedodeedo Posted January 1, 2014 #1 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Hello All, We are planning on booking a cruise of the Baltics this year. I am deciding on whether to spend extra days in either Amsterdam or Berlin. If I were to choose, which will be better to stay at for an extra 2-3 days, Amsterdam or Berlin. This will be the first visit in both cities for me and my family. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buggins0402 Posted January 1, 2014 #2 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Hello All, We are planning on booking a cruise of the Baltics this year. I am deciding on whether to spend extra days in either Amsterdam or Berlin. If I were to choose, which will be better to stay at for an extra 2-3 days, Amsterdam or Berlin. This will be the first visit in both cities for me and my family. Jason You can't go wrong with either. Amsterdam has a bit more ambiance and great art museums. Berlin has the Pergamon (an awesome museum), a cool vibe, WW2 and cold war history. Amsterdam is compact and walkable. Berlin is sprawling and needs public transportation to see the all sites. If Delta is an airline that you frequently use to get to Europe (because you collect sky pesos for instance), I'd go to Berlin. Amsterdam is a Delta hub, we fly them a lot, so we have the opportunity to stay over in Amsterdam just about every time we fly to Europe. Most Baltic cruises do a stop in Warnemunde. Have you decided that the trip there and back is too long for the short time you'd have? They really are equal, so you might base your decision on which one you think you're more likely see on a return visit to Europe and pick the other for this trip. Or, if you think this is your last shot at Europe for a while, pick the easier one to get to for this particular trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallasm Posted January 1, 2014 #3 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Agree with - both are worth a visit. However, 2014 will be a historic year for Berlin. It marks the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedodeedo Posted January 1, 2014 Author #4 Share Posted January 1, 2014 You can't go wrong with either. Amsterdam has a bit more ambiance and great art museums. Berlin has the Pergamon (an awesome museum), a cool vibe, WW2 and cold war history. Amsterdam is compact and walkable. Berlin is sprawling and needs public transportation to see the all sites. If Delta is an airline that you frequently use to get to Europe (because you collect sky pesos for instance), I'd go to Berlin. Amsterdam is a Delta hub, we fly them a lot, so we have the opportunity to stay over in Amsterdam just about every time we fly to Europe. Most Baltic cruises do a stop in Warnemunde. Have you decided that the trip there and back is too long for the short time you'd have? They really are equal, so you might base your decision on which one you think you're more likely see on a return visit to Europe and pick the other for this trip. Or, if you think this is your last shot at Europe for a while, pick the easier one to get to for this particular trip. Hello, Thanks for the advice. We are doing a port stop in Wamemunde, and contemplating a 12 hour tour of Berlin thru a tour operator, but this might be to hectic and short for us to take in the city specialy if as you mentioned that berlin is sprawling. We are embarking/disembarking the ship from Amsterdam and i am just thinking of taking a train to Berlin post cruise before flying home. My plan was to fly in to Amsterdam 2 days pre cruise and then take the train to Berlin post cruise, great advice about Delta, i didnt know Amsterdam was a hub, will chk out the flights on Delta then. It will make my chioce of flights out easier. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelanni Posted January 2, 2014 #5 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Hello, My plan was to fly in to Amsterdam 2 days pre cruise and then take the train to Berlin post cruise, great advice about Delta, i didnt know Amsterdam was a hub, will chk out the flights on Delta then. It will make my chioce of flights out easier. Jason Hi Jason, Great plan - Berlin needs more than the 6 hours you get with even the best tour. The train service between the two cities is very good. A direct Inter City train every two hours; 9:01. 11:01 etc. every day from Amsterdam Centraal to Berlin Hbf (main station). The journey takes around 6 hours. The standard fare is 116 euro but there are specials as low as 49 euro if purchased on -line from 92 days before the date of travel. http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query2.exe/en These go very quickly. It is advisable to book seats at the time of purchase (4 euro per seat extra) and to choose the open seating car where there is more room for luggage. Delta also flies between Berlin and the USA so you would not need to return to Amsterdam. Hope this helps with your planning. Berlin is a fantastic city but to see it properly does need time. For ideas on where to go and how to get there while docked in Warnemünde see my web site. Happy cruising :) Anni (ex Rostocker - changed my CC name when my location changed but still more than happy to help with NE Germany) www.travelanni.webs.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buggins0402 Posted January 2, 2014 #6 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) Hello, Thanks for the advice. We are doing a port stop in Wamemunde, and contemplating a 12 hour tour of Berlin thru a tour operator, but this might be to hectic and short for us to take in the city specialy if as you mentioned that berlin is sprawling. We are embarking/disembarking the ship from Amsterdam and i am just thinking of taking a train to Berlin post cruise before flying home. My plan was to fly in to Amsterdam 2 days pre cruise and then take the train to Berlin post cruise, great advice about Delta, i didnt know Amsterdam was a hub, will chk out the flights on Delta then. It will make my chioce of flights out easier. Jason Last year I used Delta FF to get to Amsterdam (for a planned trip to Germany) because Delta had a ton of availability into Amsterdam at low miles. FF to Berlin were more expensive and we wanted to fly out of Munich on the return - so searches for into Berlin and out of Munich were very difficult. Purchased flights on KLM were cheap from AMS to Berlin. So you might want to price out the difference between flying and the train (you'd only need a one way to Berlin, although I think KLM prices as if it's a roundtrip so you might be better off going Air Berlin). Then make your international flights into AMS and out of Berlin. Last year Delta did have a non-stop from Atlanta to Berlin (and back) running - don't know if that's still the case. Tons of flights into AMS (between Delta and KLM). Delta uses AMS to hook up with KLM's European flights. You have an excellent plan - Berlin is not well suited for a port stop only. We had 3 1/2 days there last year and we still didn't hit all the sites. Hotel prices, compared to other major European cities are great BTW. Get a 48 hour transportation/museum card - worth it's weight in gold. Edited January 2, 2014 by buggins0402 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedodeedo Posted January 4, 2014 Author #7 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Tnx. We plan to stay in Berlin post cruise. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamthesea Posted January 4, 2014 #8 Share Posted January 4, 2014 My husband, brother, his wife and I are taking the Celebrity Constellation to the Baltics in May. The cruise leaves out of Amsterdam. We are excited about the pre-cruise leg of our trip, which we will start in Germany. Our German friends will join us in Berlin for 2 days/nights. This will be so much better than trying to see it from the ships stop in Warnemunde. We will be able to relax there and take a leisurely tour of the local area, which we have booked for the day though Friends of Dave's. After Berlin, we will travel back to our friends hometown of Bocholt where we will stay in a hotel owned by their friends. We will meet family/friends for a cookout at their home. On the 20th, we will travel over to AMS (1.5 hours from them) early in the morning and tour along the way. Amsterdam will be seen that afternoon, evening and a half day before we board the Connie. Since are friends are very familiar with Amsterdam, we feel that they can give us an excellent tour in 24 hours. We will get to see most of the main sites. We already have tickets to the Anne Frank Museum and plan to see at least one other. A canal boat ride will give us a sightseeing tour along the water. Enjoy your voyage! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedodeedo Posted January 4, 2014 Author #9 Share Posted January 4, 2014 My husband, brother, his wife and I are taking the Celebrity Constellation to the Baltics in May. The cruise leaves out of Amsterdam. We are excited about the pre-cruise leg of our trip, which we will start in Germany. Our German friends will join us in Berlin for 2 days/nights. This will be so much better than trying to see it from the ships stop in Warnemunde. We will be able to relax there and take a leisurely tour of the local area, which we have booked for the day though Friends of Dave's. After Berlin, we will travel back to our friends hometown of Bocholt where we will stay in a hotel owned by their friends. We will meet family/friends for a cookout at their home. On the 20th, we will travel over to AMS (1.5 hours from them) early in the morning and tour along the way. Amsterdam will be seen that afternoon, evening and a half day before we board the Connie. Since are friends are very familiar with Amsterdam, we feel that they can give us an excellent tour in 24 hours. We will get to see most of the main sites. We already have tickets to the Anne Frank Museum and plan to see at least one other. A canal boat ride will give us a sightseeing tour along the water. Enjoy your voyage! :) Thanks! Enjoy your vacation as well. We will be on the Constellation before you, and yes we will surely enjoy our voyage and post cruise trip to Berlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I-Cruiser Posted January 5, 2014 #10 Share Posted January 5, 2014 If anyone is staying in Amsterdam a visit to Keukenhoff is well worth a visit. This year its open between 20 March and 18 May. http://www.diy-oe.co.nz/tips-and-practicalities-for-visiting-keukenhof-2012/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamthesea Posted January 6, 2014 #11 Share Posted January 6, 2014 We will just miss it. :( Thanks! Enjoy your vacation as well. We will be on the Constellation before you, and yes we will surely enjoy our voyage and post cruise trip to Berlin. If you are on the cruise before me, we will be in Berlin at the same time. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In Retirement Posted February 8, 2014 #12 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Just think about if you can get on a non-stop to Amsterdam (give it at least three full days) and upon return, the train to Berlin (the cruise terminal in Amsterdam is directly behind Amsterdam Centraal -- plan to have breakfast, then throw all of you and your baggage into a taxi for even the short ride) then figure a train that arrives in Berlin with some convenience. Then fly back from Berlin. When in Warnemunde, we never considered going to Berlin (sounds horrible). With a great deal of effort, we located a wonderful tour company and was given a guide + driver/small buss and we developed a plan to visit three nearby towns (Schwerin, Wismar, Rostock). The guide and I emailed back and forth to come up with an itinerary that worked on a Sunday. Had a great time! (Contact me if you want details, think i can send PDF guides for these locations as well: balticports@yahoo.com.) DJ:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowrose Posted February 18, 2014 #13 Share Posted February 18, 2014 We are planning on Amsterdam this coming trip but would love to see Berlin on a land trip another time. Driving through Germany is fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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